Gov. Walker announces Wisconsin Walleye Initiative

Gov. Scott Walker on Wednesday announced a program developed by the Department of Natural Resources to improve the state's walleye fishery.

The Wisconsin Walleye Initiative will "dramatically increase" the number of walleyes in Wisconsin by expanding production at state, private and tribal fish hatcheries, according to a statement released by state officials.

“Fishing is such an important part of Wisconsin’s sporting heritage, and demand for walleye continues to increase,” Walker said. “With this historic investment, we are making long-term improvements to Wisconsin’s lakes and our state’s fishing and tourism industries." »Read Full Blog Post

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The tribes or the tribal leaders? Left wing fringe groups have focused their firepower at co-opting certain tribal leaders in their war against the state of Wisconsin, but the rank and file are not necessarily on board with this. Walker gets that.

Looks like taxpayer money going to private organizations. I wonder if there will be any accountability. At least he didn't say 250,000 walleye. Oh wait, 500,000 walleye, that's 2 for each new job created!

Boondoggles? Self-funded plan to bring tourism dollars to our state is a boondoggle?

If you want to read about boondoggles, read down in the posts and you will find a rant by a guy that works for one of the train companies in which he compares this to investments in trains. Certainly not self-funded. Certain to require tens of millions in subsidies every year just to keep operating.

cmon, polar and troll, put down the bitterness blinders. this one's easy. Like him or not, he gets things done and does 2 things very well. 1) advocates on behalf of WI taxpayers - providing acceptable level of govt services and prudently managing the cost of providing govt services. 2) does things that are politically savy. in this case, he scores major political points with Wisconsinites. Walleye fishing is a big deal in WI, and improving the fishery is a no brainer if you're a politician.

This from the "balanced budget governor who recently announced he WOULD BORROW $2.1 BILLION MORE IN HIS NEW BUDGET:

"Gov. Scott Walker is asking for more than $2.1 billion in new borrowing as part of his two-year budget proposals..."http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/201128821.html#!page=8&pageSize=10&sort=newestfirst

-----> Did you also notice the article in this morning's paper about Gov. Walker seeking authority to sell operating state assets like roads, prisons highways and power plants to private buyers IN NO-BID CONTRACTS?

Not surplus assets. There's already a law for that. This will allow sale of assets currently needed and in use.

SO WE CAN THEN PAY MORE TO RENT OR PURCHASE FROM THE NEW BUYER, purchasing in a no-bid back-channel deal.

Advocate for the taxpayer? More like advocate for crony campaign contributers!

Excellent idea. Walleye are the best eating fish in Wisconsin, hands down. Many anglers specifically go after them. The more walleye in our lakes, the greater the fishing interest (and economic activity that follows).

Allow me to connect the dots. More walleye in our lakes means more fishing interest, which generates more economic activity from anglers and revenue for the DNR (via fishing licenses). Fishing-related tourism is big business in Wisconsin - you've heard of business, right?

Mooney, when I land a few walleye on the northern lakes I fish which were "harvested", then I will believe it. Personally, it is just Walker trying to calm the masses who are ticked off that the Indians basically "harvested" most of the walleyes from the lakes and rivers in retaliation for allowing Wolf hunting. that's all this is.

I fish in northern Wisconsin and have for 40 years. Unfortunately Walker ticked off the Indians by hunting wolves so in turn the Indians harvested a large number of Walleye from the lakes and rivers I fish in. So instead of me keeping a few walleye now I can keep only 1....thanks to Walker allowing wolf hunting. Now Walker has this initiative. The problem is the money will be allocated to his cronnies (who now will own the lakes)who in turn will not do anything to increase the number of walleye because we all know the cost of administration and therefore the fishing will still suck, the Indians are still ticked off (we should ban hunting wolves anyways) so in turn this winter they will "harvest" a large amount of walleye again and we will be back to square 1, minus millions of walleye. simple solution, stop killing the wolves and make an agreement with the Indians to limit the number of walleye harvested, restock the lakes and rivers with millions of walleye through fisheries already operated by small businesses and then in turn I get to keep more than 1 fish if I can catch and find a walleye in the waters I fish. This is disgusting to me as an avid fisherman that this happened. Sorry folks but Walker has slowly eroded the prosperity of this state and its natural resources.